In this interview, Prof. Dr. Stefan Feuerriegel of LMU discusses the perils of AI-generated disinformation, as detailed in his Nature Human Behavior commentary. He highlights how AI can create realistic but fake content, posing significant challenges in discerning truth and necessitating a critical approach to media consumption. Prof. Dr. Feuerriegel emphasizes the role of platforms in combating fake news and the importance of ongoing media literacy education to counter this growing threat.

In a recent interview, Prof. Dr. Björn Ommer, Chair of AI for Computer Vision and Digital Humanities/the Arts at LMU, discusses the current state and future of AI, focusing on the development of more sustainable and efficient AI models. He critiques the prevailing trend of scaling up large language models (LLMs) for AI, which demands immense computing power and energy, and advocates for smaller, more efficient models like his Stable Diffusion app.

Prof. Dr. Sven Nyholm recently launched his new Podcast ‘This is Technology Ethics’. In nine episodes he will discuss topics from his book ‘This is Technology Ethics: An Introduction’. The first eight episodes are already available. Based on his book and co-hosted with Dr. John Danaher the podcast will offer an approachable introduction to the philosophical study of ethical dilemmas in technology.

Teachers across LMU – in subjects ranging from Assyriology to Business Studies, and from Mathematics to Pedagogy – are thinking about how to teach methods, applications, and risks of AI to their students. This article describes the challenges and LMU’s response, like the Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Reliable AI and the "AI as a major Minor" that now includes bachelor’s students from 27 disciplines and counting.

A new paper by David Nippa, a doctoral student in Dr. David Konrad’s research group at the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at LMU, together with researchers from Roche Pharma and ETH Zurich, has developed an AI model that can predict where a drug molecule can be chemically altered. The model can successfully predict the position of borylation for any molecule and provides the optimal conditions for the chemical transformation, potentially  significantly reducing the number of required lab experiments for drug development.

Funded by a new European Research Council Consolidator Grant, Prof. Dr. Sahana Udupa will lead the project SMALLPLATFORMS, focusing on the dynamics of smaller digital platforms in the context of contentious speech. Building on her previous recognition through ERC funding, this project aims to investigate the role of platforms like Mastodon and Gab in shaping societal discourses.

We wish you all a happy holiday season! This newsletter will take a brief winter break next month. We will be back on February 1.

Next week, on December 5th, from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm, Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard from the University of Technology Nuremberg will give the first talk within the Distinguished Lectures on AI & Robotics in the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung at the Nymphenburg. He will speak about “Probabilistic and Deep Learning Techniques for Robot Navigation and Automated Driving”. After his talk, there will be a reception. The Distinguished Lectures on AI & Robotics is an initiative of the ONE MUNICH Strategy Forum project Next Generation Human-Centered Robotics, where international experts and pioneers in the field of intelligent robotics present their research.

On December 6, 2023, MCML-PI Prof. Dr. Matthias Niessner (TUM) will present his research on creating photorealistic 3D avatars using AI at the Deutsches Museum. His work focuses on evolving photos and videos into interactive, indistinguishable 3D holographic content, with potential applications in historical documentation and augmented/virtual reality.